


Cinderella

by owlways_and_forever



Series: When Eagles Fall Silent [15]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Parent Harry, baby Lily - Freeform, fairytales - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27788179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlways_and_forever/pseuds/owlways_and_forever
Summary: Harry tells his little princess a bedtime story.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Series: When Eagles Fall Silent [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2029726
Kudos: 1





	Cinderella

Harry rocked back and forth in their glider, holding on to Lily tightly. She was sucking one thumb with her other hand rooted firmly in her auburn curls, eyes blinking slowly as she tried not to fall asleep.

“...she again slipped away from him, though in such a hurry that she dropped her left golden slipper upon the stairs. The prince took the shoe, and went the next day to the king his father, and said, ‘I will take for my wife the lady that this golden slipper fits.’”

“Not this story again,” Ginny admonished from the doorway of the nursery, one hand on her hip. “I keep telling you, it’ll give her nightmares. And besides, I’m not sure I want to be teaching her from infancy that she needs a man to rescue her.”

“She’ll be fine,” Harry denied, pressing his cheek to the top of his daughter’s head. “And there are worse things than learning to accept help from others.”

“Accepting help is one thing,” Ginny argued, “but relying on others is entirely different.”

“Ginny,” Harry sighed, too tired for this fight again. He was all for raising Lily to be a strong, self-reliant woman, and Merlin knows he was a staunch feminist - how could he be married to Ginny and best friends with Hermione and not know first hand the strength of women? - but there were times that he longed for simplicity. Why couldn’t a fairytale just be a fairytale and a dress just be a dress? Why did everything have to be a statement?

“Why do you like that story so much anyway?” Ginny asked. “You read it to her practically every night.”

“I…” Harry paused, unsure exactly how to describe it. “I think my mum used to read it to me.”

“But -”

“I know, I don’t really remember it,” he hastened to add. “It’s more of a feeling, a sense of familiarity. It’s sort of like my patronus charm - I’m not sure that it’s really a memory, but it feels like one. It feels real.”

“Harry,” Ginny replied softly, kneeling next to the rocking chair where he sat, “of course I want your parents to have a role in Lily’s childhood, but… well, don’t you think this is a bit of a reach? Only I feel like there are more concrete ways to honor them than with a story that your mum may or may not have read to you and which your wife definitely hates.”

“Like what?” Harry challenged. “Giving her little deer mementos? Ginny, the honest truth is that neither of us really knows much about my parents, and there isn’t really anyone left that can tell us more than the most superficial details. But this is… this is something, Gin, I know it is. It has to be.”

“Why would she read you Cinderella though?”

“I don’t know,” he sighed. “Maybe it was her favourite story. But I just know in my gut that she did, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed, pressing a soft kiss to his temple as she ran her fingers gently over Lily’s head. “Okay.”  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
> Term 11  
> Gryffindor House Internal Challenge  
> Disney Prompts, Cinderella


End file.
